Racoons
 

I live in a subdivision in a city. We have had racoons digging in our trash now for months. Every single day we wake to trash all over the yard. We have tried moving the barrels, putting them in the garage ( DH doesn't like this as it smells and his office is in part of the garage) and now we have them tied up so the racoons can not tip over the barrels. Their new trick? Ripping off the covers, taking a bag out of the barrel and dragging it behind the house and tossing trash everywhere. This morning I woke to a trail of trash from my yard into the neighbors yard. sigh.

I can not shoot them because I am in city limits. I can not poison them because there are a lot of other animals around and I worry that I will accidentally poison a neighbor's cat. I can not afford a shed. I can not move; I wish, but alas I can not afford it right now.

What other options are there?

How about a have a heart live traps? If you get a neighbors cat instead you can just let it go.

Tighten the bungee cords so if they do manage to pry the lid up, it snaps back before they can make the next move.

Put the poison in the trash cans... should keep the cats from getting it.

Or trap them in a live trap so you can make sure they aren't a cat before killing them.

Personally we just keep the trash inside or in the garage until it's trash day. Only rarely does it smell.

Get a 55 gallon drum, trap the raccoon, drop trap and raccoon in the drum of water. Leave for 2 hours. when you come back remove the dead raccoon from the trap and place in the garbage bag. Reset trap. Repeat as often as necessary. Some people may think it's cruel to drown them but you have to do what you have to do. Better than shooting one 10 times with a pellet gun and it still won't die.

Do you have a Department of Natural Resources in your state? Call them. That is one of their jobs. Also, the Humane Society could give you some names of people who do that for a living. At least here there is somebody who does that job on his own for a living.
Please do not poison. Somebody's pet dog or cat could die.

Joyce

This time of year, I would add one thing. Don't just toss'em. Skin the suckers out. The hides might go for as much as $10 to $20, and there are folks who will buy the carcass for $3 to $5. (as long as you leave the feet on)

One other thought; When you pick the cage up to toss it into the drum of water, DO NOT allow your fingers to even get close to the cage - the coon will attack those fingers.

Thank you everyone. I am going to call Animal Patrol tomorrow. If they can't help we are going to do the Have a Heart Trap and relocate them.

Please do not do that. You will just be giving someone else the same trouble that you are trying to get rid of. Either kill them or get someone else to do it for you. Or keep them. I cannot tell you how fed up I am of people relocating nuisance animals at my "nice home in the country":bash:

Mary

I wrap anything that might seem yummy to an animal in newspaper, then spritz the entire package with either ammonia or diluted pinesol before placing in the trash. in the 9 years I've lived here, I've never had a problem with trash sitting outside. others have had bears and raccoons raid happily. (neighbor down the road had a dumpster for a spell while doing construction. a bear knocked it over twice, and it wasn't a little dumpster) of course, your raccoons are now used to raiding your trash, so it may take the animal control people to take them out. but maybe it will help after.

At our old Church we built a wooden box with a lock on the lid to keep the trash in untill it could be picked up. Ours was big enough for several bags, you will only need to hold whatever you keep on hand. We even kept a "stickup" under the lid to help keep it smelling "better".

You will need to secure it to something, they will try and knock it over.

Before that we used a big cheap plastic trask can from the dollar store with a concrete block in the bottom and bungee chords across the lid, it worked fine, we just had to much trash to keep...

As a person that has worked with the State Trapper, we never trap and relocate. It puts the natural population in danger of diseases. If you trap them, you kill them. Look around for the person in your area that might be feeding them. That's what we find, people that feed, the problem will never go away.

Does your city have a animal control officer? If so, get with him/her and make plans to live trap the little bandit and have it removed. They should take care of it once it's trapped. Do not do the trapping on your own should the law find out you could be cited for trapping inside a city limit, trapping without a license, and trapping when not in season. I've seen this happen before with a man who was trying to get rid of prairie dogs on his city lot. His neighbor turned him in.

It's my way to deal with my own problems and that includes a Racoon problem. I suggest a large Hav-A-Heart trap, a disposal plan and work on ways to make your trash less attractive. It's a real life and death problem and if you have a foolish Feeder in your neighborhood, the city has an obligatiohn to make them understand the error of their ways...Glen

I see if captured racoons can swim across my pond carrying a .22. None have made it so far. Pond turtles do the disposal.

I also know folks who coon hunt. They will come pick up a racoon to train their dogs.

For Hav-a-Heart traps I've found oiled sardines to work best. Typically will only catch a neighbor's cat one or two times. After that they learn.

I have trapped 17 racoons so far this year besides the four I shot on my deck eating the cat food. The first six I relocated about seven miles away, then I noticed that I caught one of the relocated racoons a second time. Since then I shoot them in the trap and bury them.

"O"

Where is there a market these days for raccoon skins?

I gave the first one I trapped to the dogs, and none of them has made it past the boundary of the farm since. I realize that your neighbors almost certainly won't like that, so I guess it's time to call animal control. I know people who keep them off their porch by spraying it with diluted Pinesol, so maybe that would help keep them out of your yard?

live trap and relocate..once you trap them..drive way way way out to the country and let them loose..close to a river or lake

Thank you everyone for the ideas and info!

Last time I checked, a concrete block cost less that a dollar at Menards.

Hi there,

A sure fire deterrent to further raccoon visits is spreading cayenne pepper everywhere.

The raccoon get it on their paws and then lick he pepper off and then never come back to your yard again!!!


Diane
http://frombeyondthegrid.com

"live trap and relocate..once you trap them..drive way way way out to the country and let them loose..close to a river or lake"

Well, OK, but it sounds like you want to relocate them from your backyard to mine. Personally, I really don't need any more than what are here now.

We poured Pinesol or the generic equilivent on our trash can in Alaska. Kept the dogs, bears and everything else off of it, and it smelled better than 7 day old fish.

Also, a 55 gallon steel barrel with the locking strap-type lid will work well. It's a round lid with a strap that goes all around the edge, then has a tightening, uh, "thingy" that locks it in place. THAT survives my ram tipping it over and rolling it all over the field trying to get to the cob inside! Even as bright as they are, I don't think a raccoon has the hand-strength to open it. Around here, they cost about $25.

If you have any concerns about problems with authorities because you trapped the coons, take photos of the next time they spread garbage everywhere, and write down some of the problems you've had. That way F&G will have something to put in their report and probably won't worry about what happened to a few pests.

Hey, you can take up a new hobby: tanning!
Kit

I'm with Ken. I live right off a major waterway. I have shot 15 this year. I don't want your raccooons.

Buck up and take care of your own problem. Please.

We live in the country and when we had a raccoon problem this summer, the DNR did NOT want people relocating them, regardless of how far away you do it. That doesn't solve the problem, just moves it to a new place.

Trap and poison/drown (away from your neightbors' eyes), then "shovel and shut up".

Ken, with the world economy in a slump, there's not much market for them. China and Russia is our biggest buyers and they're not buying. In fact they say there is a lot of stock left over from last year which is gonna hurt us even more this year if the economy doesn't pick up real soon. Best thing to do is keep them till next year and hope the prices go up.

live trap them
 

then take them to yor local mexican community. they will pay for them, not sure why. mebbe they're tasty

You can bring it to my place and turn them loose. I am about to run out of Raccoons. And dog food is expensive. :icecream:

Get some Lemon scented amonia and before tieing up the bag add a couple capfulls in the top of the bag.It will cover any scent of food they are after.